Lexicon

Abject
Accretion
Actant
Aeration
Aerobic
Algae-boosted
Animal
Anthropomorphism
Anti-Continuous Construction
Apocalypse
Aquaculture
Aquanaut
Ark
Artificial Intelligence
Autopoiesis
Assemblages
Asymmetry
Atrophy
Attraction
Autarchy
Automata
Automation
Autosymbiosis
Bambassador
Bathyscaphe
Bioconurbation
Biomedia
Bionics
Biosphere
Biotechnique
By-product
Capacity
Actant
Coisolation
Composting
Conservative Surgery
Consumer Envelope
Consumption
Continuous Construction
Conurbation
Correalism
Cultural_Memory
Cybernetics
Cybertecture
Cyborg
Dispositif
Diving Saucer
Dross
Earthship
Ecocatastrophe
Effluvium
Egosphere
End-use
Entanglement
Eutopia
Feedback
Foam
Folk
Gadget
Garbage House
Green Cyborg
Heuristic
Hoard
Holism
Homogenization of Desire
Hostile
Human Affect
Hybridized Folk
Hydroponic
Hyper-Materialism
Information Economy
Inner Space
Interama
Intra-Uterine
Maque
Megalopolis
Min-use
Mobility
Monorail
Multi-Hinge
Non-Design
Oceanaut
Oppositional Consciousness
Organic
Ouroboros
Panarchy
Parasite
Perceived Continuation
Permanence
Place
Prototype
Post-Animal
Reclamation
RI: Data Farms
RI: Garbage and Animals
RI:Shipbreaking
RI: Toxic Sublime
Sampling
Scale
Sensing Structure
Simulacrum
Simulation
Soft Energy
Spaceship Earth
Submersible
Superwindow
Symbiosis
Synthetic Environment
Technocratic
Technological Heredity
Technological Sublime
Telechirics
The Sublime
Thermal Panel
Actant
Thing-Power
Thinking Machines
Tool
Toxic Withdrawal
Turbulence
UV-Transparent Film
Vibrant Matter
Waste
Work

Waste

A byproduct that is created from an action that is not necessary to the needs of that action. Although the byproduct may have a positive or negative characteristic, the term waste does not have a positive or negative connotation.

There are many cases where the term is associated negatively as an off residue from mechanical and industrial processes. However, believing that all waste is deemed unnecessary or without purpose undermines its true potentials as a material.

Example: Waste heat from a petroleum plant is appropriately labeled even though that material (excess or by-product heat) could be used to heat residences or heat roadways to prevent ice buildup and reduce the need for salt and maintenance services. Therefore, the term "waste" needs to qualified and evaluated, because a more contemporary attitude may never implement the word as a negative artifact.

As Rybczynski presents in From Pollution to Housing, even a reality such as pollution has the potential to become an entirely new entity with potential uses. A bottle does not inherently become a discarded piece of plastic but instead society allows it take on those characteristics. However, the research into E-Waste suggests that those preconceived notions can be questions, and perhaps should be, because even toxic materials have the ability to redefine economic structures and create networks based on an otherwise discarded material.





E-Waste Research Atlas